A Rite Or A Right?

Welcome to my regular Friday song/tune day, where I pick a piece of music that reflects my mood or the times, to share with my Readers. I have to admit that I’ve had a busy month with mosaicing, a short trip away from home, a medical procedure (all good, by the way). so I haven’t really had time to think about a song for this Friday. The deciding factor for me is that while I’ve been able to get on with my life, so many of my fellow Australians have not had the same luxury.

You may have heard about the fires burning across large parts of Australia. Many people have lost their homes, their livelihoods and their dreams. Others have lost their lives. My heart goes out to all those affected. I have chosen a piece of music to mark the end of spring in the southern hemisphere; a season often associated with hope and renewal, not sacrifice. Many people want to talk about the factors contributing to this tragedy, but have been told to be quiet. History is littered with examples of where those seeking to question dogma have been overwhelmed by ignorance and soundbites or crushed by tyranny. Let’s not go down that path again.

It sounds like a thoroughly modern piece, doesn’t it? My choice of extracts was not large, and since it written for ballet, i thought this clip would do. What struck me at that country climate rally I went to, was that certain noisy hardline country people, driven by their own ambition, had sought to ridicule and shame every step taken by people to be more eco=friendly, and country people trying to do the right thing, feel that shame acutely. I hope we hear more from these quiet achievers and community stalwarts because these voices sorely need to be heard. Don’t be quiet, Brian.

These disasters rather force the issue. So even if the dreaded climate change word cannot be uttered by officials, hopefully steps will be taken anyway to mitigate these disasters in future. They just won’t call it a climate measure.

For years in Western Canada forest management was centred upon fire suppression. This policy lead to a build up of fuels which enabled wild fires. Increasingly this build up of fuels is now managed by controlled burns to limit combustibles. Fire has a role in the ecology of an area. Some types of pine cones will not open and shed their seeds until scorched by fire. The pines have very thick bark that withstands fire damage. But the pines are damaged when fire gets into the crowns of the trees and travels tree to tree. This will kill the tree but succession species follow. A burned forest can be a very vibrant place for many bird and plant species.

Fire plays a big role in much of the Australian ecosystem too. But of course, there are many areas that are not fire adapted and these have been much threatened by fire in recent years. For the fire-adapted areas, controlled burns are normally done in winter, but conditions have been so hazardous that it has not been safe to do some of this program. The window for controlled burns continues to shorten, perhaps reflecting changes to the climate.

News of the Australian fires have reached us here too – it’s horrible! And even more so that discussion about probable causes is evaded this much – it reminds me a lot of our conservative politics here. 😯
The music and ballet are beautiful!

Dreary is the word that comes to my mind when I think about the fires. Such an horrible situation. I cannot believe these so-called educated people who deny the scientific reality –we have a few of those politicians over here too, Tracy. Glad to hear that the procedure went well. And Oh my, that ballet is wonderful!

Fires in Australia. Fires in the Amazon. Fires here in California. Fires in our hearts – these are the worst unless they inspire us to work toward repair. Rights belong to everyone equally or to no one at all.
Stravinsky was incredible, this ballet heartrending.